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Learn To Let Them Go

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DQI Bureau
New Update

The decision to let an employee go is not easy. Managers are often tentative

while taking such decisions. And this is true not only for employees who are not

performing, but also those who may be performing, but for a variety of reasons,

may have stopped growing.

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Here are 12 common reasons that make it difficult for managers to fire or

move an employee:

  • Lack of company rules or policies. While there are many manuals on how to

    hire people, there are none on how or when to fire them.
  • Retaining people has been a priority for so long that it has become a

    culture.
  • Fear that firing or transferring an employee will be a poor reflection on

    the manager's own abilities to handle people.
  • Fear of unsettling the boat, especially if the employee is popular or is

    performing.
  • Concern that this may unsettle and de-motivate other employees and trigger

    IPR issues.
  • I am not OK, but my boss is OK with this employee. It can be particularly

    difficult for the manager to displace or fire an employee who has a good

    relationship upstairs.
  • The employee was always a good worker. What's happened now? Am I taking

    the right decision?
  • Will this make me look like a bad guy in the eyes of this and other

    employees? I want to look good.
  • Over a period of time the manager-employee relationship has become one of

    friends. And the manager has discussed seniors and company policies with the

    employee in a derogatory manner.
  • There is lack of information flow in the company. The manager knows the

    employee can be used effectively in some other role, but doesn't know when

    and where that role is available.
    If an

    employee is not growing and the manager cannot aid growth in the next

    year or two it is time to let the person go
  • Inability to take a risk. Will the next person be better? Let me stay with

    a known devil-at least I do not have to train this one.
  • If I lose this employee who is performing well where will I get a

    replacement?

So when is the right time to let a person go?

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If there are severe discipline issues the decision is clear. If someone has

defrauded the company you fire him. No discussions needed.

If the person has consistently under-performed and enough inputs and time has

been provided it is OK to let a person go. But this is where the decision making

starts becoming sticky. Has the necessary time been given for a person to

develop skills? Has the necessary training been provided? Has the correct

feedback been given? Answers are often tentative and so are the decisions.

An even more difficult case is when an employee is performing very well, but

cannot go further. This could be because:

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  • Skill sets for current job role are outstanding, but just not there for

    the next job role.
  • Employee is good, but there are no slots available at the next level and

    will not be for sometime.
  • The company structure does not need employees at a higher level in this

    area.

This kind of a situation is even stickier and calls for decisions that are

often difficult.

The key is simple. If an employee is not growing and the manager cannot aid

growth in the next year or two it is time to let the person go. This growth



could be in terms of job roles or compensation. If this is not done the
organization suffers. Equally important-the employee suffers and his/her

career graph slows down. As a manager if you cannot make someone grow you also

have no business slowing down the person.

The author is editor-in-chief of CyberMedia, the publisher of Dataquest. He

can be reached at shyamm@cybermedia.co.in

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